Golf: No Seve’s ghost; Furyk, Stricker just got spooked

The spirit of the late Seve Ballesteros lifting Europe to a come-from-behind victory over the U.S. in the Ryder Cup last weekend made for a nice, sentimental story.

But there was a far more important reason why Europe overcame a 10-6 deficit on Sunday to post a 14-1/2 to 13-1/2 victory — another late-tournament collapse by Jim Furyk.

Ballesteros, the former Ryder Cup player and captain who died last year, may have inspired the Europeans not to give up, but his spirit certainly didn’t prompt Furyk to bogey his last two holes to lose his match to Sergio Garcia. If Furyk had held on, the U.S. would have won the Cup.

Furyk, 42, has enjoyed a remarkable career including 16 PGA Tour victories, but his performance Sunday prompted many to second-guess Davis Love’s decision to add him to the U.S. team as a captain’s pick.

Furyk suffered similar meltdowns this year at the U.S. Open, when he bogeyed 13, 16 and 18 to lose by two, and at the Bridgestone Invitational, where his double bogey on 18 dropped him a shot behind winner Keegan Bradley.

“It’s been a low year,” Furyk admitted Sunday. “I’ve played very well this year, but haven’t closed the door.”

Furyk wasn’t the only one to blame. If Steve Stricker, a 45-year-old captain’s pick, hadn’t bogeyed 17 while failing to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker, he could have halved his match with Martin Kaymer, and Tiger Woods could have won the Cup by holding off Francesco Molinari in the final match.

With Europe already assured of at least a tie to retain the Cup, Woods missed an anti-climatic 3-1/2-foot par putt to account for the final score. Phil Mickelson also lost his final two holes, but to birdies by Justin Rose, to lose, 1 up.

Europe’s seventh victory in the last nine Ryder Cups shocked golfers throughout Central Mass., including at Worcester Country Club, host of the inaugural Ryder Cup in 1927.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Worcester CC head pro Allen Belden said, “but it’s still a great event. As disappointing as it was, it was still very exciting to watch and I think it’s great for the game.”

Heritage CC owner Bill Plante estimated that 100 people watched the last couple of hours of the Ryder Cup Sunday on television in his Charlton clubhouse.

“A lot of disbelief, then a little bit of disgust,” Plante said, “that they can have that kind of lead and can’t finish down the stretch.”

“It really came down to putting, the whole thing,” Blackstone National head pro Matt Stephens said. “Those (European) guys just seemed to rise to the occasion when it came to making the putts.”

“Although America has the deepest bench of skilled players,” Mount Pleasant CC general manager Brian Lynch said, “we can no longer say that the best players in the world are Americans.”

So what do the Americans need to do to turn things around?

“I guess if I knew the answer to that question, they’d make me captain,” Belden said. “In match play, it’s very difficult to predict and it’s very cruel.”

Contesting the Ryder Cup the week after the Tour Championship didn’t help the U.S. Brandt Snedeker had nothing left on Sunday.

Plante was disappointed that Woods couldn’t get up-and-down from just off the 18th green to give the U.S. a tie. Europe still would have retained the Ryder Cup, but the U.S. wouldn’t have lost the match.

“To me, it looked like he packed it in,” Plante said. “I don’t know if he really cares as much as some of these other guys. I wish they had sat him a little more. He was playing lousy.”

Plante wondered if Woods felt the pain of the American fans.

“Do you think Tiger Woods woke up the next day,” Plante asked, “and felt sick to his stomach, or do you think he went, ‘Too bad, whoop de doo, it’s another tournament?’ But I think the Europeans woke up with some good hangovers because I think it’s that important to them.”

Even though the U.S. lost, golf fans couldn’t take their eyes off their televisions all weekend.

“That’s why it’s great for the game,” Belden said. “It gets people to think about golf.”

Stephens said he’d rather watch the Ryder Cup than the Super Bowl, even if the Patriots played in it.

“I think that’s the most riveting sports event out there when it’s close like that,” he said.

Lynch also used the word “riveting” to describe the Ryder Cup, but he’d like to have the Sunday pairings announced on live television Saturday night.

Lynch would also get rid of the blind draw for the Sunday pairings, have the visiting team announce its Sunday lineup and give the host team the opportunity to match its golfers against that lineup.

Stephens couldn’t believe how long Furyk and his caddie, Fluff Cowan, looked over each putt on 17 and 18.

“You could tell it killed him when he missed it,” Plante said. “I guess if you lose seven out of nine, you start to put a lot of pressure on yourself.”

That pressure played a bigger role than Seve’s ghost.

“Here’s the thing about Seve’s ghost,” Stephens said. “They’ve lost seven of the last nine and he was alive for most of those. So I don’t think they needed Seve’s ghost to do it.”

Winning the Endicott Cup on Tuesday meant a lot to Christine Gagner of Bedrock GC, and not only because it was her first championship in the 15 years she has played in Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts events.

The victory also erased a bad memory of last year when she had to withdraw from the Endicott Cup after 10 holes with a sprained left ankle suffered by slipping on a banana peel.

That’s right, a banana peel. She stepped on one and fell in a parking lot on her way to a doctor’s appointment five days before the Endicott Cup.

“I was a cartoon character,” Gagner said. “Slipping on a banana peel, how many people really do that? Have you ever heard of anybody really doing that? No. Leave it to me.”

Gagner, 51, of North Oxford, admitted it did cross her mind to watch her step during the week before this year’s Endicott Cup.

Gagner won the tournament on the first playoff hole at Nashawtuc CC in Concord against Cindy Fentross of Sterling National. Gagner shot 85-75 to finish at 14-over 160. Fentross shot 81-79.

“It was very special,” Gagner said. “It’s one of my favorite tournaments of the year. I was just overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe that I was able to pull it together.”

Gagner started her second round double bogey/bogey, but played her final 16 holes in 1 under with birdies on 3, 7, 8 and 13. She won the playoff with a par on 18.

No one gave her a banana afterward, but she received a lot of words of congratulations.

LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley won this prestigious event in 1972. The tournament dates back to 1926.

Gagner’s name will be engraved on the Endicott Cup trophy, which is kept at the WGAM headquarters in Norton. Gagner was told she could bring the trophy to her home club to show it off if she wanted.

“After slipping on a banana peel, I don’t have very good luck,” Gagner said, “so I think I’m going to leave it at the WGAM office. With my luck, it would get stolen.”

People seem to enjoy playing golf in the dark. How else can you explain that Blissful Meadows in Uxbridge has just about sold out a glow ball tournament scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and has sold about half the 100 spots available for another one on Friday, Oct. 26?

“It’s something different,” Blissful head pro Matt Griffith said. “It’s not often that you’re playing at night.”

Griffith said the glow balls travel only about a third the distance of regular golf balls.

“You have to rely on instincts,” Griffith said, “because you can’t see the ground. All you can see is that glowing golf ball.”

Golfers not used to playing at night tend to hit the ground well behind the ball on their first few tee shots.